Berlin, Divided Heaven: From the Ice Age to the Thaw
Touring Film Series Since 2000


Introduction

Dear Educator / Programmer,  

The DEFA Film Library is very pleased to present to you the film tour “Berlin, Divided Heaven: From the Ice Age to the Thaw.” With this program we hope to help students, scholars and other audiences across the US and Canada appreciate the cultural and historical context of this year's tenth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification.  

With the emphasis on the division and reunification of the city of Berlin we also are able to make fascinating connections with both broader German cinematic traditions in which Berlin played a central role, and German political history -- now again focusing on Berlin as the new capital of the Federal Republic of Germany.  

Taken as a single program, the films we offer on tour provide an excellent representation of Berlin's presence in film, from post-war ruins to reunification -- from the ice age to the thaw. They present as well a view of Berlin and its Cold War division primarily from the Eastern point of view. This aspect of cinematic and cultural history is little known outside Eastern Germany, therefore an understanding of this region -- where German unification has brought the most profound changes -- will contribute to a more complete picture of what Germany is today.  

Beyond that, each film can be screened in a number of other stimulating contexts, some of which we suggest in the latter portion of this booklet. These include the wider cinematic phenomenon of the "Berlin Film," its relation to international youth culture, the influence of genres such as the crime film or the love story, and other topics.  

As always, we at the DEFA Film Library -- along with our colleagues at the video distribution company ICESTORM International -- always stand ready to try to locate additional information on the films in order to assist you in your presentation of them in the classroom, film series or other venues.   

We wish you much success for your use of the films for enjoyable, productive and stimulating viewing and discussion.  

Barton Byg
DEFA Film Library
University of Massachusetts Amherst
1999

Return to Film Tour Contents